Alex

  —

  So apparently Erin can beg… Well, I don't know if I would call it begging, exactly, but she certainly made Leaf and I feel guilty about not wanting to spend hours at the Gym just… waiting while she got her ass kicked. It sucked that we couldn't really split up, but I got it. If someone tried to collect that bounty, I for sure wanted Leto there to eat them, not to mention Hope, Stabby, Indeedee, and Hecate to stop any attacks with a Protect… I mean, everyone else would help as well, sure, but you needed to be alive to do that…

  Well, all of our Pokemon knew Protect, actually. It was more the strength of it. Dragonair could easily protect me from one large attack, but that was it. Jangmo-o might be able to take a decent hit, but not much more. Noibat's was fragile, not that I had expected much more. Dipplin's was actually extremely strong, but it was small, barely larger than his apple. He was working on the size, but one large enough to cover me was barely better than Noibat's.

  I needed to name them! Dragonair and Noibat! I was close to naming Jangmo-o, too, but I didn't know him that well yet… I was very unsure about the names I had come up with, actually… I couldn't let this continue, though! I was acting like Lance! Is this how he felt? Just huge decision paralysis? Decision paralysis that he let grow for years? That sounded very likely, even if he could be decisive when he wanted to be…

  Like when he adopted me! I mean… He didn't tell me about it, actually. Probably because he didn't want to upset me… Not that it upset me that badly, I guess? I mean, sure, it was Lance… He was a good guy, though… He wouldn't have wanted to tell me it was… necessary.

  Claire had, though. Not that she cared less, but… Lance was too good, sometimes. He didn't lie, he just… withheld information that could have upset me… Like me being legally disowned.

  Even before I had come to them about being trans I hadn't liked them… My 'family'? Not very well liked in the Clan for how traditional they were, and my entire Clan was traditional! Being transgender might not be the most popular thing in the Clan by any means, but you know what was worse? Disowning your child because they refuse to hide who they were!

  According to Claire, it had gone down the same night he got me permission to start treatments… because when he laid down what would happen, they had disowned me in front of the entire Clan leadership! Of course, that hadn't been a popular decision with most. Transgender? That was 'weird and different', which was much more acceptable, to them and me, than 'disowning your child'... I mean, I found plenty of people weird and different. Erin was supremely fucking weird! I still liked her as a person, treated her as one! I didn't treat her as lesser!

  So when I called to thank Claire that morning before I met with the nurse in Cerulean, and she had casually relayed a report her subordinate had given her about how Lance had nearly killed my 'parents'? Literally, Dragonite had to pull him away from them… It still sucked, I guess? I didn't hate my old 'family'… much. I was more… disappointed in them than anything. They had raised me. Still… I wouldn't say they had ever been affectionate, but they had taken decent care of me… Until I became an impediment to their ambitions. Until I became an embarrassment.

  Grandpa Grant hadn't been happy, but legally he had no right to contest it, and of course my 'family' had been prepared to do it for a while, the forms had already been filled out… It wasn't exactly Clan law, either, Indigo law allowed it. Now, those were old laws from before the Great War, decades before, even, but my 'parents' hadn't cared. Lance was already working on getting those laws removed, but the damage was done.

  To me, and to my 'parents'. I really wish there was a recording of my former family's faces when Grandpa Grant had exercised an old Clan law. A very, very old law, one that had to be referenced in scrolls! One that allowed an active Clan Leader to change a family's status in the Clan.

  It was a hard law to enact, because you needed an overwhelming majority vote to do so. You couldn't have a Clan Leader with the power to indiscriminately punish entire families, of course. It had been a close vote, honestly. Disowning me may have been worse than me being trans, sure, but to demote them to the old, unused position of Aerie Defenders? That was cruel.

  It sounded like an honorable duty to fulfill for the Clan, right?

  Well, for one thing, the vast majority of the Aerie supported me, and the rest just didn't give a shit about humans in general. Two? The dragons were their own defenders! So what would my old family be doing there? Other than being forced to live there full time? Mainly cleaning up their shit! Literally! That and basically being their servants! My 'mother' had apparently cried when the vote passed… My 'father' had passed out…

  My grandparents? They had changed families before the vote even happened! They weren't trying to get in on that! They hadn't been supportive or unsupportive of me, they just hadn't cared about me one way or the other, so I didn't… give a shit about them. They were dead to me, not family in any sense.

  If my old 'parents' even stayed with the Clan, which I highly doubted, and ever had another kid? Dead last in line to lead the Clan. Their ambitions were over, like they had been the moment I chose, and their little retaliation against me had made their futures very uncomfortable, instead of just… normal.

  Fuck them…

  So yeah, Lance was technically my… he was technically my… my… adoptive father now. Not that he would ever hear that from me! This wasn't an Erin situation with someone like Ms. Greenwood. This was Lance! Lance! Good guy, absolutely! He was also getting less prickish these days, but I got the feeling that it was just Ms. Greenwood's influence… Erin may have been onto something with that flick, if his ego was already starting to deflate, even a little bit…

  I hadn't told anyone yet, mainly because… why would I? It didn't really change our dynamic at all. I still loved Lance, even as he pissed me off sometimes. He still loved me, and still interacted with me the same…

  Still so weird!

  Although, if I had to choose someone from the Clan to adopt me… It would have been Claire, honestly, but Lance was a close second… Claire just didn't have the ego, even if she could be-

  I was jarred from my thoughts by Erin excitedly elbowing me! Not hard, but she was tiny! Her elbows were perfectly placed to hit my kidneys! She gave me and Leaf huge smiles as we approached the Gym. Because she had worn us down, and we would be here for half the day…

  "Don't look so glum, Alex! This is a good opportunity for you! Maybe you'll discover you like fighting? Self defense is still a valuable skill to have! You and Leaf!" I scowled at her. We scowled at her.

  "Sis, I get the feeling you just want sparring partners. You've been way too excited since yesterday…" Yes, yes she had been!

  It was partially what had worn us down, because Erin liked to fight! Here, in this world… It was very ironic to all of us, though. In her old world? I had seen how large and strong she was from her memories! She would have been a great fighter! She was also out of shape despite her going on hikes because she smoked, and she had never wanted to work out… which I could understand. Here? She liked fighting. She enjoyed the challenge, pushing herself, and of course the end results. She was also… the Tiny Tyrant. By this point she was strong for her size… She was still weaker than Leaf and I.

  So when Erin bugged us for hours last night? When she appealed to our sense of fairness? Of adventure? Well… We were still only here because she had almost pleaded with us… I knew for a fact she had accepted being a teenager fully by now, because there was no way the Erin I first met, the one still fighting to be an adult in her head, would have ever used Baby Doll Eyes on us… I think she might have actually used the Move! It had freaked Leaf out a little, honestly…

  "Erin, we never agreed to fight! We're thirteen!" Erin just smiled at me. Widely. Energetically.

  "Yeah, and? You think there's no ninjas in there that age? Plus, this isn't me asking you to train so you can join me in my little exterminations! This is for the 'just in case you get attacked' situations! It doesn't even have to be humans! Just being able to dodge out of the way of a Pin Missile or Poison Sting would be nice, right? You can't exactly walk around under a Protect all the time!" She made sense, and that was dangerous!

  Especially when she excitedly pulled us along when we finally got to the Gym and were led into a back room! I mean, we let her, she couldn't pull one of us if we didn't allow her to…

  —

  —

  To my vast surprise, I had fun sparring with our instructor! Well, I sparred with Leaf, while the instructor frequently paused us to adjust our stances. We were in good shape thanks to the exercise programs Dexter had, and our balance was exceptional for the same reason. The instructor was also very kind and patient with us. Honestly? I had expected to get thrown into the deep end and come out of the entire experience bruised and bloodied… Well, before I was healed. Instead, Leaf and I enjoyed our time there.

  So did Hope.

  Tinkatink was being watched over by Hope today, even if Indeedee glared at her slightly the entire time! Seriously, it was odd! I knew about their childcare instincts, but to see it cause jealousy from someone like Indeedee? Also, name your Pokemon, Leaf! Glass houses? Stones? What are those?

  So we actually enjoyed our hours of sparring and training. Erin?

  Erin was on the other side of the room we were using, getting her ass kicked! Again! Soundly! She managed to actually take most of the strikes well, and she managed to strike her instructor a few times… Then got yelled at, because she had unconsciously used aura to freeze them! Not literally, just in momentary terror, but still! They had not been happy with her… Well, they were ecstatic for its applications in actual combat, which Erin already knew about from Saffron, but here? Today? She was learning techniques, not trying to win! Well, she was, of course…

  She was also having the time of her life as she got repeatedly kicked, punched, thrown, and even stabbed! Not much, it was a tiny spike, more of a short cone on a thick block of wood, but it still made her bleed! Thankfully they had 'practice' clothes for her, even though they looked more like cheap rags… Which made sense, they were becoming not just bloodstained, but full of holes! Just like her!

  Of course, Stabby had requested training as well… Honestly? It felt good to see Erin's instructor stunned at the request. Not just the request itself, of course. The fact that Stabby had a name? What that name was? That he liked to stab? That he could apparently hold one of their training daggers just fine with his tiny hands?

  All in all, Stabby was… kind of hazardous to sanity. He still ended up learning from an old, wizened looking Greninja who had been called out. Stabby was ecstatic, in fact, and had impressed Greninja… slightly. Stabby won himself the privilege of being Greninja's punching bag, actually…

  Still, I was happy to take a break with Leaf, reclining against a wall as we watched Erin continue to get her ass kicked. To be fair to her, they weren't letting her rest, and her instructor was actually attacking a bit faster… and despite the tiny holes being punched into her, she was grinning! I knew it was that same insane grin she'd had as a six year old feeding an apex predator, too! She enjoyed danger! Adrenaline too, sure… She certainly didn't enjoy pain, but the few times she managed to land an actual strike on her instructor? When she would laugh? In glee?

  It was like she was a… a kid, actually… huh. So teenager Erin was… maybe more insane than adult Erin?! That sounded far too likely… and accurate… also scary…

  Especially as we watched her once again get kicked in the jaw! Sent flying! Then? She rolled to her feet laughing! With blood spraying as she did!

  Thankfully they called an end to the day's training soon after… She needed time to replace the blood she lost, even if she had been healed to perfect health! We were tired, too, sure… She was exhausted… and so damn happy! It was kind of scary, if I was being honest…

  —

  —

  After a quick shower and change of clothes we were back out and about in Fuchsia… for a little while. Erin could deal with crowds, she just hated to… I understood even without her aura, honestly. I was never a fan of them, myself, even if I hadn't experienced many before Journeying. Still, we had managed to finish exploring Wisteria Street and its historical buildings and shops. Then? What did we do after that?

  Well, Erin'd had a decent idea, somehow, so we were all relaxing on a fishing pier… Well, Leaf and I were relaxing on a fishing pier, watching our bobbers float in the heavy waves off the southern coast of Kanto. I mean, really they were being dragged around in front of the piers' concrete support pillars by the waves, but close enough.

  Erin?

  Erin was lobbing what looked like a very heavy foot-long, sinking Wishiwashi lure out into the sea, as far as she could manage, with the largest rod she could rent! It was over twelve feet long! She had to spin herself around multiple times to cast it! It took almost two minutes to sink deep enough for her liking! So far she hadn't had any luck, and it had been an hour already! It honestly looked a little weird with her wearing her new dress, actually… Dresses weren't typical fishing attire…

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  We'd caught a few Pokemon so far, a Wimpod for me, and two Magikarp for Leaf. There weren't really any Pokemon we wanted to capture here, not unless they had migrated very far, so they had gone to Dragonair. Well, she was happy to eat the Wimpod, but refused to eat a Magikarp, which made sense… She had kind of grown up around them…

  Hazard didn't care, and eagerly ate them. Surprisingly, he had killed them quickly before he started… I had honestly expected him to eat them alive, tail first, but nope. Not sure if he had been trained out of that, or if he was naturally like that… I was leaning towards trained, personally… Heavily leaning…

  Dragonair and Kallen were having a good time, too. Neither of them had been to the ocean before, just the Aerie's deep, deep pool and the lake around the Dyna Tree in Galar, although that apparently connected to the ocean as well, if through terrifyingly dark, dangerous underwater caverns. Dangerous to Kallen's parents! They were keeping back towards the shoreline, so they didn't terrify anything away, but really… They were just sort of hanging out.

  Kallen had actually latched onto Dragonair, him not being a strong swimmer, and she would occasionally go for a swim up and down the shore… Also occasionally a flight through the air. Dragonair could fly, sure. They didn't require their small head-wings, either, even if they made it easier to control the flying type energy. It was still a very hard thing to do, and she hadn't practiced yet, so she crashed a lot… Which was fine here in the ocean.

  "Sis, how are you not tired? Why not bait fish like us? That lure is huge, and that pole has to weigh a lot!" I agreed! Her arms were shaking by now when she cast!

  Erin just shook her head with a wide smile, of course!

  "Leaf, I am fishing in this place for the first time! I love fishing, you know that! I'm not going to let a Wimpod or a Magikarp be my first catch! If I don't catch anything? Oh well! Been there, done that!" She didn't lie, but her arms were shaking badly when she cast.

  She yelped in happiness a few minutes later when her rod bent almost in half… Then she yelped in panic as she began sliding forward, before she braced herself… Hecate released herself after that and held on with her ponytails, thankfully. We didn't need to try and fish Erin out of the water.

  Her face was practically glowing with happiness as she fought that Pokemon… Whatever it was, it was powerful and slow, barely moving, so it took her over a half an hour to muscle it in, inches at a time as she used her entire weight to drag it closer. She was leaning her entire body backwards like a lever, rapidly reeling in as she lurched forward. It may have gone faster if her arms weren't so tired, but they were, so she was absolutely exhausted by the time it came close enough to identify.

  Dhelmise were not fun Pokemon to encounter. They wouldn't attack passing ships like Dragalge, although they did have a good relationship with Skrelp and Dragalge. Dhelmise would guard the Skrelp and provide a sanctuary for them in rough currents, while Dragalge would lead them to fresh hunting grounds. They would 'eat' anything they could get their kelp on, usually smaller, more numerous aquatic species, but they were known to kill Wailmer and even Wailord when they were larger specimens! They didn't eat the body, just life force, so any Skrelp and Dragalge would get to feed on the actual carcasses.

  They may not attack ships like Dragalge, but they were certainly hostile towards them, and would assist any Dragalge in their attacks. They didn't eat metal, but they still wanted the ships to sink so they could grow larger. Not the entire ship, of course. They simply wanted materials. The actual Pokemon was the seaweed, they just possessed the anchors, chains, wheels, and compasses of wrecked ships.

  This one was… not exactly a baby, not that I was sure even partial ghost types could reproduce in a way that produced babies instead of… a-sexual splitting, or something? No, Dhelmise could get huge! Some of the ship's anchors in use were over twenty feet tall! Most Dhelmise were ten to fifteen feet tall! They also needed to be able to control them, though, and we could all tell that this one was… younger? Or maybe it just hadn't had access to larger materials?

  It would explain why the anchor was only six feet tall… The wheel looked like it came off of a normal-sized boat… maybe? I had never been on a boat, I was just guessing! Either way, it was 'small'… It was also furious, and once it got close enough, it apparently decided to take that out on Erin by latching onto the dock with its seaweed and dragging itself up with a piercing howl of ghostly rage.

  Of course, Hecate was there, and she smashed it into the dock. The thankfully sturdy concrete and metal dock, which made sense. Even a Horsea could break a wooden dock. It struggled mightily, of course, kelp flailing, but Hecate was an Alpha Hattrem. It was not getting away from her.

  Erin was smiling, but in slight confusion and dismay, almost? She looked back at us with that conflicted face.

  "I'm not sure if I call this a catch, since it's a Pokemon and actually struck at my lure, or if this is more like… snagging trash?" The Dhelmise thrashed at her words, struggling to get closer to her, and she turned to it with a wide smile.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way, really! I meant because you're possessing an inanimate object! I would feel the same way if your anchor was solid gold!"

  It stopped thrashing towards her, but now it wanted to be gone! I really didn't blame it, as Hope held a very interested Tinkatink. Dhelmise may not be steel-typed, sure, but they had plenty of metal on them. It was mostly fear of Erin's aura that she had finally unleashed, though. I could feel it from ten feet away.

  Erin grinned at it for a moment before crouching near its… face? Compass eye?

  "So, here's the deal, buddy. I caught you. I could actually catch you in a Pokeball, and I may! Well, me or one of these two, if they're interested." It glared at her, ghostly energy visibly seeping out of its eye.

  "I don't capture unwilling Pokemon unless they refuse to leave us in peace, however… That, or we just eat them." It paused its thrashing and she smiled at it like Leto.

  "We can't exactly eat you, however, so don't worry. I mean, Tinkatink could, sure, but she knows what will happen to her if she eats any metal we don't own, or that she hasn't received as a gift." Tinkatink was glaring at her now, but she didn't object.

  She had finally agreed to follow that rule last night, as a Tinkatink at least, so long as she wasn't starving. None of us would let her starve, of course. She was adorable, and certainly one of the nicer fae species that could have come out of that Egg… Especially after Leaf introduced her to the concept of gifts!

  Erin turned towards us, eyes questioning.

  "Are either of you possibly interested?" We both shook our heads.

  I wasn't not interested, in one sense. They were interesting Pokemon, and could grow powerful, sure. They weren't draconic, though, and that aside, I was mildly worried about catching a ghost type. Well, I would absolutely catch a Dreepy… Leaf had one open slot, two technically because Tinkatink was uncaught, but still! We hadn't gotten our carry limit expanded yet, and probably wouldn't until Saffron. We could send them to their Ranch, sure…

  Erin shrugged and turned back to the irritable Pokemon.

  "Well, I wouldn't mind adding you to my roster at all, honestly. I'd be delighted to, in fact! You probably wouldn't be a Pokemon I used frequently, however. It wouldn't be fair to carry you far inland and force you to spend most of your time in a Pokeball, right?" It had stopped glaring at this point, eye curious. Also angry still, sure, but also curious.

  "My family owns a Ranch, however, one with a large pond that's currently being expanded. In fact, I think Kingdra and Gyarados were trying to connect the pond and the ocean! That would involve some sort of switchback to stop the salt from flowing in, and probably a dry cave in between… Anyways!" She clapped her hands together a little, making Dhelmise jump. Well, jerk a little under Hecate's control, control she released.

  "Would you be interested in being my Pokemon? You would probably spend most of your time at my home, and you would have plenty of Pokemon you weren't allowed to hunt there. Eventually you would probably end up being something like a guard, keeping any oceanic Pokemon out of the pond once they're connected. Of course, I would still train you, purchase you larger anchors, chains, everything you need to grow. You're actually very powerful already, I can feel it, but it seems like you're being constrained by the size of your anchor. You would also get pulled away to fight, especially now, while we're so close to the ocean." She smiled at the Pokemon. Hecate had released it by now, but Dhelmise was very still after it pulled itself upright, staring at her with its eye.

  "If not, don't worry, I would simply release you. Or let you return to the ocean, I guess? Hecate pulled the hooks out of your wheel already. I don't force Pokemon to fight for me, to train. It would be entirely your choice, but that also means you would have to control yourself and your hunger. You would never go hungry, though, I can assure you of that. I know you eat life force, not flesh, and I guarantee that a few of the Pokemon at the Ranch would be more than happy to drag you back live prey… Well, unconscious prey. They would still get to eat it after you feast, so why would they care?" It closed its eye for a moment before it popped open, staring at her. She tilted her head to the side, then grinned like Leto.

  "I have seen them bring in a Wailmer before, so probably? I can't guarantee it, but I get the feeling Midir or Gyarados would be happy to drop you on top of one, let you kill it, then bring you both back. They would find it hilarious, actually. Me too, now that I really think about it! Like dropping an angry bomb made of kelp, steel, and ghostly terror… So yeah, I never lie, and I can't guarantee that, but it is certainly extremely likely." Its eye closed again for a long moment, then popped open. It 'nodded' at her with its kelp and her smile grew radiant!

  "Awesome! Well, if you're going to be all nice like that, and not attack anyone, Pokemon or human unless I say so, or you're hunting at home…" It warily nodded its kelp at her. "Then I might as well show some trust, right?"

  Leaf and I exchanged glances as she took out a Luxury Ball. Our main team that we trusted? Even Hazard? Sure, Luxury Balls all the way. A freshly caught Grass/Ghost that drained life force?

  Erin apparently either didn't care, or more likely, had known it was telling the truth, because she gently tapped the Luxury Ball to its anchor, and with a rush of red light it was gone. The Luxury Ball rattled a few times, then clicked. It could still escape, of course, but the psychic bond had been established.

  She turned to us, her smile threatening to split her face in half.

  "I finally caught a Pokemon! One that didn't come to me and request it or get dropped off by their parents! Yes!!!" We both laughed a little at her sheer enthusiasm. Huh, wow… I think that was the first Pokemon any of us 'caught', instead of hatched or just sort of… took along… Damn…

  "I mean, aside from capturing them for your own or others' safety, I never liked the idea of capturing an unwilling Pokemon. Technically, the only difference between that and poaching is the lack of Pokeballs and the scale… Making them fight for me, though? That's just wrong, on so many levels… " I had never thought about it like that… Glad I never forced a capture, then… Not that I'd had the opportunity!

  Erin turned towards Kallen with a wide smile.

  "Wanna talk to them, let them know at least part of the insanity that is my life? Our lives, I guess?" He squelched out a laugh and nodded. Erin walked towards the shallows and lifted the Luxury Ball up.

  "I know you heard that, but just to be clear, don't try and attack the Skrelp… not that you would, obviously. I get the feeling you two are going to be good friends, actually… The Dragonair as well. I won't tell you not to prank us like Kallen does, but you better keep it non-harmful if you decide to be a little trickster as well, understood?" It rattled once and she smirked at it.

  "Yeah, yeah, you can have some of mine. Not a lot, just a tiny bit." We looked at her in confusion as Dhelmise appeared on the dock, then extended a section of seaweed. We barely had time to panic before it had wrapped her hand up!

  Leaf was not happy!

  "Erin! That is dangerous! Stop!" Erin did not stop, in fact. She turned to look at Leaf and just smiled! Normally! Like her life force wasn't being drained as we spoke!

  "They haven't drained anything yet!" Oh… "Also, before you start panicking, yes, I know that life force and aura are different. That's why they're just holding on for now, they're gauging how much I have. A little life force is no big deal, it recovers. It's not like some… vital, finite resource. It recovers over time, but we don't know how long it takes to recover a small amount, so we're testing it ou-"

  She winced for a second before the seaweed released her. She shook her head, and her hand, briefly before smiling at the small Dhelmise. A Dhelmise whose eye somehow looked happy. Very happy, actually!

  "That good, huh? Not sure if that's a me thing, a human thing, or just a land-based creature thing, honestly, but we can test at least one of those out soon. Anyways, enjoy some time with Kallen, snag some food if anything's dumb enough to get close to you. When we head back I'll grab you a… kiddie pool? Or something? Something to stay wet with, you can't fit into Kallen's barrel. Not that he uses it often, especially in Centers where they have showers. Kallen's got all those scales and hard ridges, so he doesn't dry out quickly, but you're seaweed, and I don't want you to get hurt." It nodded at her with its kelp, dragged itself to the edge, and fell off with a loud splash, Kallen quickly following it.

  Erin turned back to us, again, and smiled widely.

  "That was not what I expected to pull out, or to catch for my eighth Pokemon, but still, badass!!!"

  Stabby, of course, took that moment to pop out and flick her ear.

  —

  —

  We kept fishing for another half hour, but Leaf and I had no more luck. Considering the Dhelmise sitting in the water, even if it was closer to shore? I didn't blame them… Erin, though? Erin took a little breather, then kept casting that huge damn lure of hers. She apparently also got better with it, that or it was just feeding time for the Pokemon she pulled out next.

  Sharpedo were not nice Pokemon, even for carnivores. Take Leto, for example. She was an honorable dragon, and didn't cause more stress or terror than was required to hunt down her food… Except for when she was requested to cull a herd! Kind of hard to do that nicely… Sharpedo acted more like I had expected Hazard to act. They would literally eat humans and Pokemon alive! Feet first! They were brutal! Most of them, they were actually a decently common Pokemon for sailors and fishermen to have… They were just usually raised from Carvanha…

  Considering the first thing this one did once it reached the surface was to launch itself at Erin with its rear jet? Well… It seemed pretty standard for its species, and it had chosen poorly. Sharpedo weren't able to levitate like Kallen or some aquatic species could, and they couldn't move themselves around with seaweed like Dhelmise could… they were water-bound. So when Hecate jerked in surprise and erected a quick Protect around Erin that it slammed into? When she grabbed it out of the air with her ponytails, her psychic powers entirely useless against a Dark type?

  It just wiggled in her strong grip…

  Erin of course just smiled at it before looking over at us.

  "I think I know the answer, but are either of you interested in this bad boy here?" It snapped its jaws together in anger, but it wasn't moving anywhere fast. It had already unleashed its explosive burst of speed, and the Aqua Jets it kept unleashing weren't strong enough to let it escape an Alpha Hattrem.

  I glanced at Leaf, but I shook my head. I may not have a water type, but Dragonair was aquatic. Leaf thought for a few moments… and for a few moments, I began to get worried. Thankfully she shook her head, because damn! That was a scary prospect… Not the Sharpedo itself, no… Well, not just that. It was how often and long it would even be able to exit its Pokeball! They could breathe air, sure. Most Pokemon could… They would also flop around without extensive use of Moves, and that was cruel…

  Erin turned back to the aggressive Pokemon with a grin.

  "You have chosen poorly! I will ask you this once, because I did catch you, and you didn't initiate the attack on me, I sort of did. Will you leave in peace?" It unleashed an Aqua Jet at her face that Hecate blocked, and I watched her grin grow feral and the Sharpedo freeze briefly as she unleashed her aura. I also noticed a dark shape rapidly moving under the water in response to her aura…

  "Dhelmise! Dinner tiiime!" I watched in horrified fascination as an anchor flung itself out of the water and towards the Sharpedo, chain wrapping around it tightly. Its eyes looked panicked for a brief moment, wide and terrified. Then Hecate released it, gravity took hold, the chain rapidly retracted, and Dhelmise began to feast in the rapidly churning water. The churning in the water stopped entirely after a long minute, before I saw my dragon swim over… then the water turned red.

  Erin turned back to us with a huge smile, reeling her line in fully.

  "Now that was a good afternoon of fishing!"

  Okay, Erin was still absolutely terrifying even with pigtails, smiles, and a cute dress, good to know…